Support assembly for forwardly shiftable vehicle seat

Abstract

A seat support assembly of the disclosure mounts a vehicle seat on an associated vehicle floor for movement between a forward easy-enter position and a rearward seating position and has a curved link construction that increases the access space to the rear of the seat in the forward easy-enter position as well as including a latch mechanism for normally maintaining the seat in the seating position but releasable by a first outboard handle and a second rear handle having a bight portion that allows forward seat movement.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A vehicle seat support assembly for mounting a seat on a vehicle floor laterally adjacent a side door of the vehicle, the support assembly comprising: a lower frame for mounting on the vehicle floor; an upper frame for supporting the seat; front and rear links associated with inboard and outboard sides of the assembly and having opposite ends respectively pivoted to the upper and lower frames such that the upper frame is movable between a rearward seating position and a forward easy-enter position where the area rearward of the seat supported by the assembly is accessible to adjacent the door for entry into and exit from the vehicle; the frames each having an outboard rear extremity; the opposite ends of the rear link at the outboard side of the assembly being pivotally connected to the outboard rear extremities of the upper and lower frames such that a straight line therebetween with the upper frame in the easy-enter position extends upwardly and forwardly from the lower frame to the upper frame through open space adjacent the rear outboard portion of the assembly; the outboard rear link having an intermediate portion connecting the opposite ends thereof with a curved shape that is located downwardly and forwardly with respect to the straight line between the opposite ends thereof when the upper frame is positioned in the forward easy-enter position whereby the location of pivotal link connection to the outboard rear frame extremities increases the space between the door area and the area rearward of the seat supported by the assembly and thus affords a passenger convenient access during entrance into or exit from the vehicle; and a latch mechanism for maintaining the upper frame in the rearward seating position and for selectively releasing the upper frame for movement to the forward easy-enter position. 
     
     
       2. A support assembly as in claim 1 wherein the rear outboard link has an intermediate portion with a continuously curved shape extending between its ends. 
     
     
       3. A support assembly as in claim 2 wherein the intermediate portion of the rear outboard link includes a pair of edge flanges with the continuously curved shape. 
     
     
       4. A support assembly as in claim 1 wherein the front link at the outboard side of the assembly and both the front and rear links at the inboard side of the assembly include straight intermediate portions extending between their opposite ends. 
     
     
       5. A support assembly as in claim 1 wherein the upper and lower frames each include inboard and outboard frame members; and a pair of diagonal braces having lower ends pivoted to the lower frame member concentric with the links at one side of the assembly and also having upper ends pivoted to the upper frame member concentric with the links at the other side of the assembly. 
     
     
       6. A support assembly as in claim 5 wherein the latch mechanism extends between the outboard upper frame member and the curved rear outboard link to maintain the upper frame in the rearward seating position. 
     
     
       7. A support assembly as in claim 6 wherein the latch mechanism includes a keeper mounted on the rear outboard link and a latch member mounted on the outboard upper frame member for movement between latching and nonlatching positions into and out of engagement with the keeper when the upper frame is in the rearward seating position. 
     
     
       8. A support assembly as in claim 7 that includes a latch spring for biasing the latch member to the latching position, a first handle on the latch member for enabling a passenger entering the vehicle to move the latch member against the bias of the spring to the nonlatching position, and a second handle extending rearwardly from the latch member to enable a passenger rearward of the seat supported by the assembly to move the latch member to the nonlatching position against the bias of the spring. 
     
     
       9. A support assembly as in claim 8 wherein the upper outboard frame member includes a flange that engages the latch member to limit the movement thereof under the bias of the spring when the upper frame is moved forwardly to the easy-enter position such that the latch member is thereby positioned for latching engagement with the keeper upon subsequent rearward movement of the upper frame to the seating position. 
     
     
       10. A support assembly as in claim 8 wherein the rear inboard and outboard links include stops that respectively engage the upper inboard and outboard frame members to limit the rearward movement of the upper frame. 
     
     
       11. A support assembly as in claim 10 wherein the keeper of the latch mechanism also functions as the stop of the rear outboard link. 
     
     
       12. A support assembly as in claim 8 wherein the second handle comprises an elongated bar having an outboard end portion pivotally supported by the upper outboard frame member and an inboard end portion pivotally supported by the upper inboard frame member, the latch member being supported on the outboard end portion of the bar, and the bar including an intermediate bight portion that extends rearwardly to permit a passenger to move the latch member to the nonlatching position from the rear of the support assembly. 
     
     
       13. A support assembly as in claim 12 wherein the bight portion of the elongated bar extends rearwardly at a location farther from the upper frame member to which the upper ends of the diagonal braces are pivoted than from the other upper frame member such that the braces do not interfere with movement of the bight portion during releasing of the latch mechanism. 
     
     
       14. A vehicle seat support assembly for mounting a seat on a vehicle floor laterally adjacent a side door of the vehicle, the support assembly comprising: a lower frame for mounting on the vehicle floor; an upper frame having laterally spaced frame members for supporting the seat; front and rear links associated with inboard and outboard sides of the assembly and having opposite ends respectively pivoted to the upper and lower frames such that the upper frame is movable between a rearward seating position and a forward easy-enter position where the area rearward of the seat supported by the assembly is accessible to adjacent the door area for entry into and exit from the vehicle; a latch mechanism for maintaining the upper frame in the rearward seating position and for selectively releasing the upper frame for movement to the forward easy-enter position; said latch mechanism having a first handle positioned at the outboard side of the assembly so as to permit release of the mechanism by a passenger entering the vehicle; the latch mechanism including a separate second handle that extends laterally between the frame members of the upper frame for pivotally supported movement about a horizontal axis to release the latch mechanism; and the second latch handle having a bight portion that extends rearwardly to adjacent the rear extremity of the assembly so as to permit release of the mechanism by a vehicle passenger from the rear of the assembly during exit from the vehicle. 
     
     
       15. A support assembly as in claim 14 wherein the upper and lower frames each include inboard and outboard frame members, the latch mechanism including a keeper mounted on the rear outboard link and a latch member mounted on the upper outboard frame member for movement between latching and nonlatching positions with respect to the keeper, the latch member including an integral portion providing the first handle, the second handle including a bar having an outboard end portion pivotally supported on the upper outboard frame member and an inboard end portion pivotally supported on the upper inboard frame member, and the latch member being fixed on the outboard end portion of the bar to permit a vehicle passenger rearward of the support assembly to grasp the bight portion and move the latch member to its non-latching position so as to release the upper frame for forward movement to the easy-enter position. 
     
     
       16. A support assembly as in claim 15 wherein the latch mechanism includes a spring that biases the latch member to the latching position into engagement with the upper outboard frame member such that the latch member is positioned to engage the keeper upon rearward movement to the seating position from the forward easy-enter position. 
     
     
       17. A support assembly as in claim 16 wherein the rear outboard and inboard links include stops that respectively engage the upper outboard and inboard frame members to limit rearward seat movement. 
     
     
       18. A support assembly as in claim 17 wherein the keeper of the latch mechanism also functions as the stop of the rear outboard link. 
     
     
       19. A vehicle seat support assembly for mounting a seat on a vehicle floor laterally adjacent a side door of the vehicle, the support assembly comprising: a lower frame for mounting on the vehicle floor; an upper frame for supporting the seat; front and rear links associated with inboard and outboard sides of the assembly and having opposite ends respectively pivoted to the upper and lower frames such that the upper frame is movable between a rearward seating position and a forward easy-enter position where the area rearward of the seat supported by the assembly is accessible to adjacent the door for entry into and exit from the vehicle; the frames each having an outboard rear extremity; the opposite ends of the rear link at the outboard side of the assembly being pivotally connected to the outboard rear extremities of the upper and lower frames such that a straight line therebetween with the upper frame in the easy-enter position extends upwardly and forwardly from the lower frame to the upper frame through open space adjacent the rear outboard portion of the assembly; the outboard rear link having an intermediate portion connecting the opposite ends thereof with a curved shape that is located downwardly and forwardly with respect to the straight line between the opposite ends thereof when the upper frame is positioned in the easy-enter position whereby the location of pivotal link connection to the outboard frame extremities increases the space between the door area and the area rearward of the seat supported by the assembly and thus affords a passenger convenient access during entrance into and exit from the vehicle; a latch mechanism for maintaining the upper frame in the rearward seating position and for selectively releasing the upper frame for movement to the forward easy-enter position; said latch mechanism having a first handle positioned at the outboard side of the assembly so as to permit release of the mechanism by a passenger entering the vehicle; the latch mechanism including a separate second handle supported on the upper frame for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis to release the latch mechanism; and the second handle having a bight portion that extends rearwardly so as to be located adjacent the rear extremity of the assembly to permit release of the mechanism by a vehicle passenger from the rear of the seat during exit from the vehicle.